Yorktown Clipper
by Bob Cornelius
Alaska
August 19, 2000
My wife and I sailed with the Yorktown Clipper, for an Inside Passage cruise
of seven days, 8-19-2000 to 8-26-2000. It was our first cruise, and was
with Tauck World Discovery.
We boarded in Juneau, after meeting our tour guide, Rick, at the airport.
The cabin was very nice, and larger than we'd expected. We were on the main
deck, portside, just forward of the dining room. The ship is small, just
138 passengers, and all cabins are outside. The accomodations are
first-rate throughout, and the staff and crew are everything you could want.
No "Vegas style" entertainment, a very genteel and friendly atmosphere, as
we'd wanted.
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The first day at sea, we visited Elfin Cove, a charming boardwalk town. The
next day, in Glacier Bay, the Captain got us some wonderful views of the
Johns Hopkins Glacier, and we lingered quite a while. Later, we saw some
brown bears and stayed to observe them for a while. We spent Tuesday in
Skagway, and took the included White Pass and Yukon Railway excursion.
Later, we took an extra helicopter trip up to a glacier, and I'd recommend
that to anyone! The next day, in Haines, we had a river float through the
Chilkat Eagle Preserve, lots of eagles to see there. Then a trip through
the Peril Strait to Sitka. Sitka was our favorite town, very pretty. An
included bus tour took us to the Raptor Center, the Cathedral, a totem park,
and the New Archangel Dancers. After dinner, we walked to the Tribal
Center, for more dancing. Friday, our last full day onboard, was spent in
Tracy Arm, viewing the Sawyer Glaciers. They are incredibly blue, and I got
many good pictures, as the Captain got us in very close. Saturday it was
back to Juneau, the airport, and the regular world...
At all times, the schedule was flexible enough that the Captain could stop
the ship and linger to watch a glacier calve, or bears feed, or any other
interesting thing. We saw a lot of wildlife, humpbacks, orcas, goats,
bears, puffins, moose, etc. The weather was good, mostly cloudy, with some
sun and sprinkles.
I'd do it again, the Yorktown Clipper is a great ship, and Tauck World
Discovery knows how to run a tour!
